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My new rifle and a story for those looking for a 2nd hand bargain

Not one for parading my arsenal on the web but this may be of interest to anyone who is thinking of looking at the very buoyant 2nd hand market and showing just what is available

I have been shooting one of two 270's for the best part of 25 years neither one a big name brand or custom tactical rig, both perform perfectly well.
But I decided to get a 243 for Roe and foxing and picked up a nice clean Parker Hale with scope, moderator, strap and 60 rounds of Sako/Privvi and some Vmax homeloads from a very nice chap on here.

The moderator and scope were redundant as I have one of each already and the Vmax homeloads were duly pulled. I had already picked up some Lapua brass and after a perfectly average zeroing session with the factory ammo the factory brass was duly sold on.
the rifle was stripped it down to its individual components, cleaned, polished, oiled, steamed and reassembled. I fitted the moderator and my scope to the existing rings.

I am new to homeloading and am coming at it from a Scotsman's perspective not that of a benchrest shooter.
I use a Lee Classic handloader for both 270 and 243. few minimal accessories and have moved to working with one powder for both. my hardware is worth less than £100. probably the same again in bullets and powder purchased for both calibres.

I wanted to have a 100gn and an 87gn load if possible, but was warned that "100gn wont stabilise" in factory twist barrels. it seemed Ok with the factory 100gn Sako round in the first zero session so I thought I would give it a go.
Didnt get a chance to try the Vmax 75gn that I got with the rifle (anyone want to help me out on a N160 load for 75gn Vmax I would be grateful!) and need more time for the 87gn but..........

To say I am delighted with the results after a few ladder loads working up to slightly under VV quoted maximum is an understatement.

having sold the scope, the mod and the brass from the original purchase this rifle cost me a little less than £100. (obviously the scope and current mod were already mine)

glad your pleased it bewsher. lovely rifles arnt they. sounds like you got a real bargain. glad to hear you got on well with the lee loader. was thinking of going down the same road of home loading for my .308 parker hale. looking at your results i think that christmas cant come early enough. just need to get through enough rounds to justify it. wish there was a range close enough to get through some rounds

Nice! I once bought three rifles: A Japanese Arisaka and 2 eight-millimeter Mausers and assembled one very nice stalking rifle (Mauser) with a Lyman reciever sight, double set triggers, and a beautiful walnut stock. My total outlay was less than $150US. After selling off the bits I didn't need I was down to about $20 cost!~Muir

I've bought 3 rifles in the past 18 months a HMR, 22250 and 6.6 x 55. Each of them were as new and had fired less than 100 rounds. In total I've paid less than. 3rd of the price I should have for brand new rifles pretty much so roughly speaking I got 3 for the price of 2!! The last one being a nearly new Steyr 6.5x55 with T8 mod, hard case, warne rings, and italian bolt case for £450 including RFS costs. It seems shooting is a bit like fishing. A lotof people like the idea, they get thye bug but move on to other things and then sell up. Certainly the case with one of the rifles I bought, one was unfortunately due to ill health and the other quite simply they bought 2 rifles and were only using one so wanted the cash for something else..I'd love to but a new rifle and will do at some point but to be honest there are just too many bargains out there.

I've just paid £685 for a s/h Varberger 6.5x55, with a nicely figured, oiled walnut stock and good blueing, its been well looked after and shoots tight groups. The price included Apel mounts & a Lisenfeld 1.5-6 X 42 scope. All I'd say, is either buy from a reputable dealer (Norman Clark gave me 12 months warranty) or have a gunsmith look at it before buying.

personally, I think the dealer's are trying to make far too much money from people selling up and new shooters coming into the market.
BSA and PH rifles in worse condition than mine are advertised for £3-400 all over the country without mounts let alone scope/mod etc.

if you are new to rifles then clearly take some advice. but if you know which end is the dangerous one and can handle a bit of TLC then it is not dangerous buying privately